Telecommunications Market Data Update Q3 2020 · 2021. 2. 2. · Telecommunications Market Data...

MARKET DATA

Publication Date: 28 January 2021

Telecommunications Market Data Update

Q3 2020

Contents

Section

1. Market Monitor 1

2. Fixed telecoms market data tables 2

3. Mobile telecoms market data tables 2

Telecommunications Market Data Tables

1

1. Market Monitor In the following section we highlight some of the key trends emerging this quarter from the data we

collect on the UK telecommunications sector.

Fixed voice services

• UK fixed voice services generated £1.7bn in revenue in Q3 2020; a fall of £42m (2.4%) from the

previous quarter. BT’s share of these revenues remained stable at 48.7%.

• Access and add-on call bundles generated £1.5bn in revenue in Q3 2020, accounting for 87.5% of

total fixed voice revenues.

• There were 32.2 million fixed exchange lines (including PSTN, ISDN and managed VoIP connections)

at the end of Q3 2020, 86k (0.3%) fewer than at the end of the prevous quarter.

• Total fixed-originated call volumes fell by 1.4 billion minutes (11.3%) to 10.8 billion minutes during

the quarter, having increased sharply during the initial phase of Covid-19 lockdown in Q2 2020.

Fixed broadband services

• There were 27.1 million fixed broadband lines at the end of Q3 2020, an increase of 93k (0.3%)

from the previous quarter.

• The number of ADSL lines fell by 555k (8.9%) in Q3 2020, while the number of cable broadband

lines increased by 15k (0.3%) and the number of ‘Other inc. FTTx’ lines (predominantly fibre

broadband connections) increased by 633k (4.1%).

• There were 16.3 million ‘Other inc. FTTx’ broadband lines at the end of Q2 2020, accounting for

59.9% of all UK fixed broadband connections.

Mobile services

• Mobile telephony services generated £3.1bn in retail revenues in Q3 2020, a £284m (8.4%)

decrease from a year previously.

• Average monthly revenue per subscriber was £12.37 in Q3 2020, with post-pay subscribers

generating more revenue than pre-pay users on average (£15.26 compared to £4.71).

• The number of active mobile subscriptions (excluding M2M) was 84.2 million at the end of Q3

2020, down 0.1 million (0.1%) from a year previously.

• Over the same period, the number of dedicated mobile broadband subscriptions increased by 0.3

million 6.2%) to 4.8 million.

• The number of mobile-originated voice calls minutes increased by 7.3 billion (18.3%) to 46.9 billion

minutes in the year to Q3 2020, with calls to landlines increasing by 24.7% to 10.4 billion minutes.

• Roaming call volumes decreased by 45.5% to 0.5 billion minutes compared to Q3 2019, the key

driver of this fall being travel restrictions that were introduced to combat the spread of Covid-19.

• The number of mobile messages (including SMS and MMS) saw a significant year-on-year decline,

down 4.2 billion messages (26.1%) to 11.9 billion.

• Data usage continued to increase rapidly, up 217 PB (24.6%) year-on-year to 1,099 PB.


2

2. Fixed telecoms market data tables

Q3 2020 (July to September)

Table

1 Summary of network access & call revenues 3

2 Summary of exchange line numbers at end of quarter 4

3 Summary of call volumes 4

4 Summary of call revenues by call type 4

5 Summary of call volumes by call type 5

6 Summary of residential network access & call revenues 6

7 Summary of residential exchange line numbers at end of quarter 7

8 Summary of residential call volumes 7

9 Summary of residential call revenues by call type 7

10 Summary of residential call volumes by call type 8

11 Summary of business network access & call revenues 9

12 Summary of business exchange line numbers at end of quarter 10

13 Summary of business call volumes 10

14 Summary of business call revenues by call type 10

15 Summary of business call volumes by call type 11

16 Broadband internet subscribers 12

Note: The data in these tables are the most accurate currently available. Where historical restatements have

occurred, this is due to either operator restatements or improvements in methodology.


3

Table 1: Summary of network access & call revenues (£millions)

All Operators BT2 Virgin Media Other BT share2

Access & calls1

2018 7,576 3,301 769 3,505 43.6% 2019 7,196 3,030 842 3,324 42.1%

2019 Q3 1,735 718 192 825 41.4% 2019 Q4 1,889 822 265 802 43.5% 2020 Q1 1,812 877 267 668 48.4% 2020 Q2 1,761 858 267 636 48.7% 2020 Q3 1,719 838 262 620 48.7%

Access1

2018 5,923 2,302 648 2,974 38.9% 2019 5,918 2,294 746 2,877 38.8%

2019 Q3 1,395 520 167 709 37.2% 2019 Q4 1,655 709 242 704 42.9% 2020 Q1 1,574 758 243 574 48.1% 2020 Q2 1,532 748 244 540 48.8% 2020 Q3 1,504 745 238 521 49.6%

Calls

2018 1,652 999 122 532 60.5% 2019 1,278 736 95 447 57.6%

2019 Q3 340 199 24 117 58.5% 2019 Q4 234 113 23 98 48.2% 2020 Q1 237 119 25 94 50.1% 2020 Q2 229 110 23 96 48.1% 2020 Q3 215 93 24 98 43.1%

Notes: Excludes VAT. 1 Revenue figures are not intended to include subscription revenues for internet

access although some element may remain. 2 The step change in BT's calls and access revenues in 2019

Q4 is due to a reallocation of revenues; 2 includes EE from 2017 Q4.


4

Table 2: Summary of exchange line numbers at end of quarter (000's)

All

Operators

BT2 Virgin Media Other BT share2

2018 31,514 12,518 4,881 14,114 39.7%

2019 32,406 13,188 4,802 14,416 40.7%

2019 Q3 31,264 12,098 4,950 14,216 38.7%

2019 Q4 32,406 13,188 4,802 14,416 40.7%

2020 Q1 32,382 13,148 4,763 14,471 40.6%

2020 Q2 32,304 13,132 4,749 14,423 40.7%

2020 Q3 32,217 13,113 4,656 14,449 40.7%

Note: the increase in exchange lines in 2019 Q4 is due to managed VoIP connections being better-

captured in the data.

Table 3: Summary of call volumes (millions of minutes)1


2018 47,022 19,605 6,285 21,132 41.7%

2019 39,042 16,327 4,952 17,763 41.8%

2019 Q3 9,534 3,997 1,251 4,286 41.9%

2019 Q4 9,572 3,883 1,174 4,515 40.6%

2020 Q1 10,453 4,482 1,348 4,623 42.9%

2020 Q2 12,191 5,383 1,649 5,159 44.2%

2020 Q3 10,818 4,567 1,359 4,892 42.2%

Table 4: Summary of call revenues by call type (£millions)

All calls UK

geographic

calls

International

calls

Calls to

mobiles

Other calls1

2018 1,652 469 128 378 677

2019 1,278 378 96 320 484

2019 Q3 340 94 21 81 145

2019 Q4 234 85 24 77 48

2020 Q1 237 90 24 79 44

2020 Q2 229 93 22 94 21

2020 Q3 215 86 20 79 30

Excludes VAT. 1 Includes freephone, special services, premium rate, directory enquiries and all other call

types. Figures are not intended to include subscription revenues for internet access although some

element may remain.


5

Table 5: Summary of call volumes by call type (millions of minutes)


UK geographic calls

2018 31,194 13,323 4,756 13,115 42.7%

2019 26,032 11,370 3,735 10,927 43.7%

2019 Q3 6,354 2,751 958 2,645 43.3%

2019 Q4 6,357 2,785 816 2,756 43.8%

2020 Q1 7,087 3,291 958 2,838 46.4%

2020 Q2 8,434 4,033 1,208 3,193 47.8%

2020 Q3 7,088 3,299 952 2,837 46.5%

International calls

2018 1,994 496 145 1,353 24.9%

2019 1,586 370 114 1,102 23.3%

2019 Q3 364 88 28 248 24.2%

2019 Q4 414 85 27 302 20.6%

2020 Q1 413 91 27 295 22.1%

2020 Q2 409 90 31 288 22.0%

2020 Q3 373 73 25 275 19.6%

Calls to mobiles

2018 5,732 2,078 707 2,947 36.3%

2019 5,173 1,822 631 2,720 35.2%

2019 Q3 1,301 451 168 682 34.7%

2019 Q4 1,256 438 150 668 34.9%

2020 Q1 1,365 514 172 679 37.7%

2020 Q2 1,842 693 237 912 37.6%

2020 Q3 1,756 671 207 878 38.2%

Other calls1

2018 8,102 3,708 677 3,717 45.8%

2019 6,251 2,765 472 3,014 44.2%

2019 Q3 1,515 707 97 711 46.7%

2019 Q4 1,545 575 181 789 37.2%

2020 Q1 1,589 586 191 812 36.9%

2020 Q2 1,507 567 173 767 37.6%

2020 Q3 1,601 524 175 902 32.7%

1 Includes freephone, special services, premium rate, directory enquiries and all other call types. 2 Includes EE from 2017 Q4.


6

Table 6: Summary of residential network access & call revenues (£millions)


Access & calls1

2018 5,733 2,315 716 2,702 40.4%

2019 5,580 2,163 799 2,618 38.8%

2019 Q3 1,344 514 181 649 38.3%

2019 Q4 1,464 586 255 622 40.1%

2020 Q1 1,402 652 256 494 46.5%

2020 Q2 1,363 643 262 458 47.2%

2020 Q3 1,314 625 250 439 47.5%

Access2

2018 4,666 1,585 618 2,462 34.0%

2019 4,759 1,627 721 2,411 34.2%

2019 Q3 1,124 366 161 597 32.5%

2019 Q4 1,324 514 236 573 38.8%

2020 Q1 1,253 572 237 444 45.7%

2020 Q2 1,211 566 239 406 46.7%

2020 Q3 1,183 567 232 384 48.0%

Calls

2018 1,067 730 98 239 68.4%

2019 820 536 78 207 65.3%

2019 Q3 220 149 20 51 67.7%

2019 Q4 140 72 18 49 51.6%

2020 Q1 150 79 20 51 53.0%

2020 Q2 151 76 23 52 50.4%

2020 Q3 132 57 19 55 43.6%

Excludes VAT. 1 Revenue figures are not intended to include subscription revenues for internet access although some element may remain. 2 The step change in BT's calls and access revenues in 2019 Q4 is due to a reallocation of revenues. 2 Includes EE from 2017 Q4.


7

Table 7: Summary of residential exchange line numbers at end of quarter (000's)


2018 26,135 9,985 4,523 11,627 38.2%

2019 26,239 9,682 4,568 11,989 36.9%

2019 Q3 26,245 9,729 4,611 11,904 37.1%

2019 Q4 26,239 9,682 4,568 11,989 36.9%

2020 Q1 26,249 9,599 4,543 12,107 36.6%

2020 Q2 26,204 9,582 4,536 12,086 36.6%

2020 Q3 26,222 9,556 4,452 12,214 36.4%

Table 8: Summary of residential call volumes (millions of minutes)1


2018 32,068 13,857 5,384 12,827 43.2%

2019 25,794 11,188 4,246 10,360 43.4%

2019 Q3 6,348 2,723 1,082 2,543 42.9%

2019 Q4 6,097 2,672 961 2,464 43.8%

2020 Q1 7,069 3,247 1,130 2,692 45.9%

2020 Q2 9,049 4,252 1,437 3,360 47.0%

2020 Q3 7,318 3,296 1,137 2,885 45.0%

Table 9: Summary of residential call revenues by call type (£millions)

All calls UK geographic

calls

International

calls

Calls to

mobiles

Other calls1

2018 1,067 321 77 203 466

2019 820 261 53 171 336

2019 Q3 220 64 11 43 101

2019 Q4 140 58 12 40 30

2020 Q1 150 66 13 42 29

2020 Q2 151 76 13 49 14

2020 Q3 132 67 11 36 18



element may remain; 2 Includes EE from 2017 Q4.


8

Table 10: Summary of residential call volumes by call type (millions of minutes)

All

Operators

BT2 Virgin

Media

Other BT share2

UK geographic calls

2018 23,164 10,427 4,268 8,469 45.0%

2019 18,893 8,598 3,375 6,920 45.5%

2019 Q3 4,622 2,078 871 1,673 45.0%

2019 Q4 4,490 2,057 711 1,722 45.8%

2020 Q1 5,328 2,553 854 1,921 47.9%

2020 Q2 7,060 3,433 1,129 2,498 48.6%

2020 Q3 5,549 2,600 861 2,088 46.9%

International calls

2018 1,315 328 131 856 24.9%

2019 986 248 105 633 25.2%

2019 Q3 234 58 26 150 24.8%

2019 Q4 225 57 24 144 25.3%

2020 Q1 236 65 25 146 27.5%

2020 Q2 257 72 30 155 28.0%

2020 Q3 216 56 24 136 26.0%

Calls to mobiles

2018 2,462 860 414 1,188 34.9%

2019 2,071 674 369 1,028 32.5%

2019 Q3 525 168 99 258 32.0%

2019 Q4 499 163 81 255 32.7%

2020 Q1 583 210 95 278 36.0%

2020 Q2 784 296 128 360 37.8%

2020 Q3 649 241 104 304 37.1%

Other calls1

2018 5,127 2,242 571 2,314 43.7%

2019 3,844 1,668 397 1,779 43.4%

2019 Q3 967 419 86 462 43.3%

2019 Q4 882 395 145 342 44.8%

2020 Q1 922 419 156 347 45.5%

2020 Q2 948 451 150 347 47.6%

2020 Q3 905 399 148 358 44.1%



9

Table 11: Summary of business network access & call revenues (£millions)


Access & Calls1

2018 1,834 977 54 804 53.3%

2019 1,609 860 43 706 53.5%

2019 Q3 390 202 11 177 51.9%

2019 Q4 424 234 11 180 55.2%

2020 Q1 408 224 11 174 54.8%

2020 Q2 402 214 10 178 53.3%

2020 Q3 404 212 11 180 52.6%

Access1

2018 1,258 717 29 511 57.0%

2019 1,158 667 25 466 57.6%

2019 Q3 272 154 6 111 56.7%

2019 Q4 332 195 6 131 58.8%

2020 Q1 322 185 6 130 57.6%

2020 Q2 320 181 5 134 56.6%

2020 Q3 321 178 6 137 55.4%

Calls

2018 577 261 24 292 45.2%

2019 451 193 18 240 42.9%

2019 Q3 118 48 5 65 40.8%

2019 Q4 92 39 5 49 42.1%

2020 Q1 86 38 5 43 44.4%

2020 Q2 82 33 5 44 40.4%

2020 Q3 82 34 5 43 41.6%

Excludes VAT. 1 Revenue figures are not intended to include subscription revenues for internet access

although some element may remain. 2 The step change in BT's calls and access revenues in 2019 Q4 is

due to a reallocation of revenues. 2 Includes EE from 2017 Q4.


10

Table 12: Summary of business exchange line numbers at end of quarter (000's)

All

Operators

BT2 Virgin

Media

Other BT share2

2018 5,379 2,533 359 2,487 47.1%

2019 6,168 3,507 234 2,427 56.9%

2019 Q3 5,019 2,369 339 2,312 47.2%

2019 Q4 6,168 3,507 234 2,427 56.9%

2020 Q1 6,133 3,549 220 2,365 57.9%

2020 Q2 6,099 3,549 212 2,338 58.2%

2020 Q3 5,996 3,557 204 2,235 59.3%

Note: the increase in exchange lines in 2019 Q4 is due to managed VoIP connections being better-

captured in the data.

Table 13: Summary of business call volumes (millions of minutes)1

All Operators BT2 Virgin

Media

Other BT share2

2018 14,940 5,735 901 8,304 38.4%

2019 13,240 5,131 706 7,403 38.8%

2019 Q3 3,185 1,272 169 1,744 39.9%

2019 Q4 3,474 1,210 213 2,051 34.8%

2020 Q1 3,382 1,233 218 1,931 36.5%

2020 Q2 3,128 1,129 212 1,787 36.1%

2020 Q3 3,497 1,269 222 2,006 36.3%

Table 14: Summary of business call revenues by call type (£millions)

All calls UK geographic

calls

International

calls

Calls to

mobiles

Other calls1

2018 577 148 51 175 203

2019 451 118 43 150 140

2019 Q2 116 30 10 38 39

2019 Q3 118 29 10 37 42

2019 Q4 92 27 12 36 17

2020 Q1 86 25 11 36 14

2020 Q2 82 18 9 45 10



element may remain. 2 Includes EE from 2017 Q4.


11

Table 15: Summary of business call volumes by call type (millions of minutes)


UK geographic calls

2018 8,029 2,896 488 4,645 36.1%

2019 7,139 2,772 360 4,007 38.8%

2019 Q3 1,732 673 87 972 38.9%

2019 Q4 1,867 728 105 1,034 39.0%

2020 Q1 1,759 738 104 917 42.0%

2020 Q2 1,373 600 79 694 43.7%

2020 Q3 1,539 699 91 749 45.6%

International calls

2018 680 168 14 498 24.7%

2019 600 122 9 469 20.3%

2019 Q3 130 30 2 98 23.1%

2019 Q4 188 28 3 157 14.9%

2020 Q1 177 26 2 149 14.7%

2020 Q2 152 18 1 133 11.9%

2020 Q3 158 17 1 140 10.8%

Calls to mobiles

2018 3,270 1,218 293 1,759 37.2%

2019 3,101 1,148 262 1,691 37.0%

2019 Q3 777 283 69 425 36.4%

2019 Q4 757 275 69 413 36.3%

2020 Q1 782 304 77 401 38.9%

2020 Q2 1,058 397 109 552 37.5%

2020 Q3 1,107 430 103 574 38.8%

Other calls1

2018 2,960 1,453 106 1,401 49.1%

2019 2,400 1,089 75 1,236 45.4%

2019 Q3 546 286 11 249 52.4%

2019 Q4 662 179 36 447 27.0%

2020 Q1 665 165 35 465 24.8%

2020 Q2 545 114 23 408 20.9%

2020 Q3 694 123 27 544 17.6%



12

Table 16: Summary of residential and small business broadband connections at end of quarter (000's)

Total ADSL Cable Other (inc.

FTTx)

BT retail

share1

2018 26,587 9,551 5,225 11,810 34.6%

2019 26,872 7,362 5,080 14,430 34.0%

2019 Q3 26,823 7,891 5,277 13,656 34.1%

2019 Q4 26,872 7,362 5,080 14,430 34.0%

2020 Q1 26,961 6,730 5,090 15,142 33.7%

2020 Q2 27,040 6,264 5,145 15,630 33.7%

2020 Q3 27,132 5,709 5,160 16,263 33.7%

1 Includes EE from 2017 Q4.


13

3. Mobile telecoms market data tables

Q3 2020 (July to September 2020)

Table

1 Estimated retail revenues generated by mobile telephony 14

2 Call and message volumes by call type 14

3 Subscriber numbers by type 15

4 Average monthly retail revenue per subscriber 15

5 Interconnection call volumes 16

Note: The data in these tables are the most accurate currently available. Where historical restatements have occurred, this is

due to either operator restatements or improvements in methodology.


14

Table 1: Estimated retail revenues generated by mobile telephony (£millions)

Total Access

and

bundled

svcs

UK

fixed

calls

On-net

mobile

calls

Off-net

mobile

calls

Int'l

calls

Other

calls

SMS

and

MMS

Data

services

2018 13,794 10,193 208 224 243 377 334 607 1,609

2019 13,431 10,456 167 205 213 273 216 567 1,334

2019 Q3 3,387 2,641 42 52 53 61 54 139 345

2019 Q4 3,328 2,632 37 50 49 59 54 146 301

2020 Q1 3,209 2,553 36 49 49 61 51 136 273

2020 Q2 3,193 2,563 36 51 51 57 29 120 286

2020 Q3 3,103 2,523 24 20 33 41 21 116 325

Note: From 2018, bundled revenues are reported according to the new IFRS15 accounting standard, and

they do not include any device revenues.

Table 2: Call and message volumes by call type (billions of minutes/messages/PB)

All

calls

UK

fixed

calls

On-net

mobile

calls

Off-net

mobile

calls

Int'l

calls

Calls

when

roaming

Other

calls

SMS &

MMS

messages

Data

2018 160.73 34.58 47.74 66.13 3.97 2.81 5.51 74.11 2450.99

2019 161.11 33.90 47.98 67.55 3.47 2.87 5.32 65.07 3291.27

2019 Q3 39.64 8.32 11.65 16.49 0.84 1.00 1.34 16.03 882.16

2019 Q4 41.45 8.76 12.47 17.50 0.84 0.50 1.39 15.85 929.15

2020 Q1 44.88 9.73 13.19 18.99 0.86 0.51 1.60 14.71 965.97

2020 Q2 50.05 11.38 14.01 22.02 0.81 0.33 1.50 10.80 1007.06

2020 Q3 46.92 10.38 13.44 20.24 0.71 0.55 1.62 11.85 1099.20

Note: Includes estimates where Ofcom does not receive data from providers.


15

Table 3: Subscriber numbers by type (millions)

Total

subs at

end of

period

Post-pay

subs at

end of

period

Pre-pay

subs at

end of

period

Net

change

during

period

Proportion

post-pay

Mobile

broadband

subs at end of

period

2018 83.40 57.35 26.04 -0.12 69.0% 4.51

2019 84.61 59.73 24.88 0.63 70.6% 4.50

2019 Q3 84.28 58.46 25.82 0.61 69.4% 4.51

2019 Q4 84.61 59.73 24.88 0.33 70.6% 4.50

2020 Q1 83.57 60.12 23.45 -1.04 71.9% 4.41

2020 Q2 83.11 60.55 22.56 -0.47 72.9% 4.73

2020 Q3 84.17 61.10 23.07 1.06 72.6% 4.80

Note: Includes estimates where Ofcom does not receive data from providers; excludes M2M

connections.

Table 4: Average monthly retail revenue per subscriber (£ per month)

All

subscribers

Post-pay

contract

Pre-pay

2018 13.70 17.84 4.92

2019 13.25 16.85 4.96

2019 Q3 13.44 17.22 5.20

2019 Q4 13.14 16.52 4.97

2020 Q1 12.72 15.97 5.08

2020 Q2 12.77 15.55 5.47

2020 Q3 12.37 15.26 4.71

Note: From 2018, bundled revenues are reported according to the new IFRS15 accounting standard, and

they do not include any device revenues.


16

Table 5: Interconnection call volumes (billions of minutes)

All operators

2018 58.67

2019 60.29

2019 Q3 14.85

2019 Q4 15.01

2020 Q1 16.26

2020 Q2 16.61 2020 Q3 16.67

Note: Shows the number of call minutes terminating on mobile networks which originate on other

networks.

Telecommunications Market Data Update Q3 2020 · 2021. 2. 2. · Telecommunications Market Data...

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